Little John's Pizza has been open at Ninth and Tilghman streets nearly 17 years.

For the last five, it's been offering patrons take-out beer to go with their pizza, cheesesteaks and hoagies.

Since then, Tamer Degirmenci's patrons would occasionally ask: "Hey, can you deliver a six-pack with my pizza?"

"Sorry, but no," he'd reply.

In a month or so, Degirmenci may be able to change his answer to yes.

Little John's is one of several Lehigh Valley eateries that are among the first 18 applicants for a special class of liquor license that will allow them to offer customers home delivery of up to 192 ounces of malt beverages. That's two six packs of 16-ounce cans.

Several local Lehigh Valley eateries are among the first to apply for licenses to deliver beer to customers' homes. (DONNA FISHER / THE MORNING CALL)

He sees it as a huge business opportunity. He's been telling customers about his application and has posted signs around the pizza shop promoting future beer delivery.

"Don't drink and drive, so if you need a beer, we'll deliver it to you," Degirmenci said.

"We've got some billboards ready," Marcks said. "I forecast it to be very popular in the beginning."

When news of the new license capability broke, Marcks was stunned, in a good way. Now the race is to prepare for a wave of beer orders.

"I was ecstatic, nervous with the potential of growth and business," Marcks said. "There are a lot of changes to make, and new rules. How do you ring it up, pay for it, control it, card people? Now we are working on the logistics."

The type of license, "Transporter for Hire Class B," has existed for years, but it was used primarily by companies that pick up malt or brewed beverages from distributors or producers and transport them to customers such as restaurants, said LCB spokeswoman Stacey Kreideman.

Or people like Slatington's Robert Ray Anderson. A truck driver, Anderson said he got the license when he started hauling beer for Samuel Adams brewer Boston Beer Co. He doesn't do that any more, but it does come in handy any time he's in the South, and is called on to haul beer.

"I hardly use it, because the loads just aren't there," he said. Anderson has no plans to start offering home delivery of beer.

The license was expanded, almost accidentally, in December to cover home beer deliveries. Attorneys at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board responded to a question from the owner of the Roff School Tavern in Meadville, Crawford County, on whether it could ship a six-pack of craft beer to a customer in another state.

The answer was that to do that, Roff School Tavern and any other restaurant with a liquor license would have to obtain a Transporter for Hire license in addition to its existing liquor license.

A number of restaurant license holders already have them, Kreideman said. An example: The House of 1,000 Beers in New Kensington, Westmoreland County.

Both existing and new licensees will have to take the same legal precautions as anyone who sells alcohol directly to consumers, Kreideman said.

Customers wanting beer delivered will have to pay up front, by credit card over the phone. Retailers will have to take pains to ensure they're not selling to underage patrons or the visibly intoxicated. The maximum order is 192 fluid ounces.

License applications are expected to take a few weeks to be approved once the LCB has all the applicant's required information, Kreideman said.